Next 'Archer' season will include a 'Bob's Burgers' crossover episode -- EXCLUSIVE

Fans of animated comedy have known H. Jon Benjamin’s gruff deadpan since the days of Comedy Central’s Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist and, later, Adult Swim’s Home Movies. Lately, he’s been voicing the title characters to two of TV’s funniest cartoons, FX’s Archer and Fox’s Emmy-nominated Bob’s Burgers – and, soon enough, fans will get to watch him do both at once.

In an interview with EW, Benjamin revealed that the Archer team has produced a crossover episode in which he’ll play both ISIS agent Sterling Archer and grillmaster Bob Belcher. The episode’s already been recorded, he says, and will air during Archer‘s next season (FX has yet to announce a premiere date).

Indeed: “It’s like a Bourne Identity-type plotline. It starts off with Archer as Bob, making hamburgers, but he doesn’t know that he’s Archer. He’s at the restaurant and these, like, I think Russian thugs come in, and Bob dispatches them expertly. And then he’s like, What just happened? How did I do that? So he has to try to figure out why he’s so good at killing people.”

Adds Benjamin, “It was Adam’s idea.”

Bob’s creator Loren Bouchard [who also co-created Home Movies and produced Dr. Katz] signed off on the idea, Benjamin says, but stayed out of the creative process. “It was prompted by Adam, but Loren was into it.”

Bob’s wife Linda (voiced by John Roberts) will be in the episode as well, he confirms, “but the kids aren’t in it. I guess it must’ve been a budget restriction or something. Like, ‘I can’t afford to pay an extra three grand to pay actors.’”

As for how the different visual styles of the shows will mesh, he says that “it’s Archer-style animation, but with all the accoutrements and characteristics of the [Bob’s] characters.”

“It is a little weird,” he continues, “because you have to be a fan of both to understand it. But you don’t have to know about Bob’s Burgers to enjoy it.”

If the crossover threatens to expose how similar his voices for Bob and Archer (and, well, most of his characters) are, Benjamin isn’t concerned. “It’s seems like kind of a 50-50: 50 percent of people are like, ‘You suck, you use the same voice,’ and 50 percent of people are like, ‘It’s amazing how different they are!’ And I really can’t speak to either opinion.”

If you haven’t seen Archer, something is wrong with your TV viewing schedule, as it’s easily one of the best comedies on television right now. But we don’t just watch it for the hilarious ignorance of its protagonist — the subtle incorporation of high-end automobiles into the program is so genius that unless you know… you just don’t know.

Executive producers Adam Reed & Matt Thompson, the wizards behind the show, are also the driving force behind the car frenzy that the show has started. The two car junkies made it a point to work in cars to match the characters, as if they’d purchased them on their own. Sure there are times when you see some of the best cars ever made just casually driving through in the background, but the main cars are just as special.

Enjoy the gallery below, then read an interview with Reed and Thompson over at Jalopnik.

Posting Gains of +44% in Adults 18-34 and +36% in Adults 18-49 vs. Last Season

Seven All-New Episodes of Archer Remain in Season Four with Two-Part Season Finale Airing April 4 and April 11

LOS ANGELES, February 27, 2013 – FX has ordered season five of its critically-acclaimed animated comedy series Archer, it was announced today by Nick Grad, Executive Vice President of Original Programming and Development, FX. The network has ordered 13 episodes for the series’ fifth season.

Archer was created by Adam Reed and Floyd County Productions and it is executive produced by Reed and Matthew Thompson. Seven all-new episodes of Archer remain in season four, which wraps up on Thursday, April 11 at 10:00 PM E/P. This year Archer will enter into the category of Outstanding Comedy Series for the Emmy® Awards.

“Archer is one of the very best comedy series on television,” said Grad. “Adam Reed, Matt Thompson and the incredible cast – H. Jon Benjamin, Aisha Tyler, Jessica Walter, Chris Parnell, Judy Greer, Amber Nash, George Coe, and Lucky Yates – are comedic geniuses. It is truly rewarding the way in which the audience and fans have embraced their work and that the ratings continue to grow. The quality of Archer is undeniable.”

When notified of the season five pick-up, Reed said, “Thank God.”

When Reed notified Thompson of the season five pick-up, Thompson replied, “Called it.”

Archer has posted dramatic ratings growth every year and season four of the series is on record pace. In 2013, Archer ranks as cable’s #2 series in delivery of Men 18-34 behind The Walking Dead, and it has ranked as television’s #1 program in that demo in the Thursday, 10 PM time period in four of the past six weeks (Live+Same Day). Through four episodes this season, Archer is posting gains of +44% in Adults 18-34 and +36% in Adults 18-49 compared to its season three average. First-run episodes of Archer are averaging 2.37 Million Total Viewers; 2.01 million Adults 18-49, and 1.41 million Adults 18-34 (L+7). In comparison to Archer’s first season, season four in the series has increased its audience by +92% in Total Viewers, +129% in Adults 18-34, +159% in Men 18-34, +128% in Adults 18-49, and +160% in Men 18-49 (L+7).*

Archer is produced by FX Productions. In February 2012, FX Productions closed an overall production deal with the series’ Executive Producers, Adam Reed and Matt Thompson, and their animation studio, Floyd County Productions.

In tomorrow’s episode, “Live and Let Dine” (Airs February 28, 10:00 PM E/P), Archer (H. Jon Benjamin), Lana (Aisha Tyler), and Cyril (Chris Parnell) go undercover in the irascible celebrity chef “Lance Casteau’s” (Anthony Bourdain) hellish kitchen (Written by Adam Reed). Other upcoming guest stars include Bob’s Burgers veterans Eugene Mirman and Kristen Schaal, and Jon Hamm will voice the character of “Captain Murphy,” the possibly deranged commander of an undersea laboratory, in the two-part season four finale airing on April 4 and April 11.

Archer, an animated, half-hour comedy, revolves around the spy agency known as the International Secret Intelligence Service (ISIS) and the lives of its employees. Although their work of espionage, reconnaissance missions, wiretapping and undercover surveillances is daunting and enigmatic, every covert operation and global crisis are actually unmitigated occasions for the ISIS staff to undermine, sabotage and betray each other for personal gains and selfish pleasures.

This video doesn’t need much of an introduction. It’s got every major Archer character making an appearance in roles originated by the cast of Tony Scott’s 1986 Top Gun, and the Kenny Loggins song (written for the movie) Danger Zone, a term which was first appropriated by Sterling Archer in an early episode of the show and then used multiple times after.

With the skill of James Bond, style of Tom Ford and thirst of Paul Gascoigne, Sterling Archer is an inimitable force upon the face of espionage.

And, four seasons, 50 episodes (if you include the unaired pilot) and a whole heap of misogyny later, how well do you know about the besuited spy and his ISIS associates? The characters may not know what year it is (a running gag relating to the show's confused mix of '60s style, old war references and modern technology), but let's hope you're aware of them, because a score below 15/15 will see you taken out by the sniper that's sat in that tree over there.